Board to vote on how to proceed with new school

CARLSBAD — Nearly three months after the Carlsbad Municipal School Board was originally to vote on an addendum to the architectural contract for the first two new elementary schools, the board will make a decision on how to proceed at a special meeting on Tuesday.

"If we're going to get this built, we need to get it started," CMS Superintendent Gary Perkowski said.

NCA Architects of Albuquerque was awarded the architectural contract for the first two schools. The contract allowed for an addendum to the contract so the firm could go on to build the third elementary school as well.

Taxpayers presented their concerns at the Nov. 17 meeting, during which the approval of addendum to contract for architectural services was originally on the agenda.

CMS Board President Abel Montoya said in a previous article that those concerns indicated a need for better communication with the public and a need to reconsider options for the third school.

Montoya formed an advisory committee soon after the November meeting to look into options for completing the third school.

Montoya said in an interview Thursday the committee is looking at options which include putting everything, including architectural services, out for competitive bid, and potentially looking at the money left from the original $60 million bond issue in 2014 to complete the school. The latter option would mean making adjustments to the third school, which was intended to be virtually identical to the other two.

“If we're going to get this built, we need to get it started.”

Gary Perkowski

The committee will have a meeting on Monday evening to decide what their recommendation to the board will be.

Montoya and committee member Greg Brown both said the delay in the recommendation by the committee was partly due to the pending election on HB 33.

"We did pass HB 33, which we were waiting for," Montoya said.

The superintendent said that HB 33 funds are potentially on the table to finish paying for the third school.

With the hard costs of the first two schools each going over $20 million, only around $18.3 million remains for the final school.

Committee member Greg Brown, who also presented his concerns at the November meeting, said he was unhappy about the time selected for the meeting.

"I was disappointed it's at 10 a.m. in the morning and not 6 p.m. because it keeps a lot of the public from being able to attend and being involved," Brown said.

The superintendent said the time of meetings is generally selected at a time when all board members will be able to attend.

The special meeting will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the board room at the Carlsbad Municipal Schools administration building at 408 N. Canyon St.